whom they were connected. As prisoners of war, they were entitled to claim from the American government that protection which the most savage of our foes have uniformly experienced, when dis armed and in our power. Humanity shudders at the idea of a cold-blooded execution of prisoners disarmed and in the power of the conqueror. And although savages, who respect no laws, may, according to the strict principles of the law of nations, have their own system of cruelty inflicted on them by way of retaliation, it is believed that such a system would degrade and debase the civilized nation who could resort to it, and is not only repugnant to the mild principles of the Christian religion, but a violation of those great principles of moral rectitude which distinguish the American character. Retaliation, in the United States, has always been confined to specified acts of cruelty. It is not believed that any attempt has ever been made to retaliate for charges so general as those exhibited against Arbuthnot and Ambrister, viz. “Inciting the Indians to war." During the revolutionary war, only two cases occurred of persons seized for purposes of retaliation, neither of whom was executed. The case of Asgih, seized on account of the murder of Huddy; and governor Hamilton, of Vincennes, for specific acts of cruelty also. Hamilton was confined for a short time with rigour, and afterwards released. During the late war, marked with some cases of cold-blooded massacre on the part of our enemy, parti

cularly the one at the river Raisin, no such measure as retaliation was resorted to.

The principle assumed by the commanding general-that Arbuthnot and Ambrister, by uniting in war against the United States while we were at peace with Great Britain," became outlaws and pirates and liable to suffer death," is not recognized in any code of national law. Nothing can be found in the history of civilized nations which recognizes such a principle, except a decree of the executive directory of France, during their short career of folly and madness, which declares, that neutrals found on board enemies' ships should be considered and treated as pirates.

The committee forbear to make any other remarks on the violation of the usual and accustomed forms in the punishment and conviction of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, except that even despots claiming to exercise absolute power cannot, with propriety, violate their own rules.

Having declared a court martial for the purpose of trying the prisoners, the commanding general, by his own authority, set aside the sentence of the court and substituted for that sentence his own arbitrary will. In trials involving the life of an individual, a strict adherence to form is in ordinary cases considered the best security againt oppression and injustice.

A departure from these forms is calculated to inflict a wound on the national character, and tarnish the laurels so justly ac

quired by the commanding general by his former victories. Such are the facts as they appear to the committee, and such are the views taken by them of the important subjects referred to their consideration, and, together with their report, they submit various depositions and documents, to which, and to the correspondence and documents relating to the Seminole war communicated to the senate by the president of the United States, at the last and present session, they refer.

PROCLAMATION,

By Lord Cochrane, Vice-Admiral of Chili, Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Ships and Vessels of the States.

Being authorized and commanded by the supreme government of Chili strictly to blockade the ports, bays, harbours and the whole coast of the kingdom of Peru,

I hereby declare as follows, viz.

1. That the port of Callao, and all other ports, bays and harbours, as well as the line of coast from the port of Guyaquil to Alacama in Peru, are in a state of formal blockade.

2. All vessels are strictly prohibited from carrying on any commerce, or holding communication with the said ports and places within the fore-mentioned line of blockade.

3. No ships or vessels belonging to friendly or neutral powers now in the bay of Callao, or in any of the ports or anchorages com

dollars, Hamburgh banco, with 4 per cent usual interest.

Act II. Stipulates that these three millions shall be paid in ten equal annual payments, beginning with the 1st of July 1820 and ending with the 1st of July

1829.

Act III. The interest shall be reckoned from the 1st of January 1820. The 60,000 dollars, which are the amount of the interest from that day till the 1st of July 1820, shall be paid in two equal payments-namely, the first half, or 30,000 dollars, on the 1st of July 1820, and the second half on the 1st of July 1821.

Act IV. From the 1st of July 1820, the interest shall be paid quarterly.

Act V. Obliges the king of Norway to cause a bond for 300,000 rix dollars, payable on the 1st of July, to be issued by his Norwegian department of the finances, after the exchanges of the ratifications, and to bind the Storthing, which is to assemble on the 1st of February 1821, to sanction the issue of the bonds for the remaining payment.

Acts VI to VIII. Stipulate the giving up of the archives, maps,

&c.

Act IX. Mutual adjustment of all kinds of claims which may originate in the old union between Norway and Denmark.

Act X. Exchange of the ratifications within 20 days.

A separate article stipulates the delivery of the bonds into the hands of the minister of the mediating power at Stockholm.

Declaration of the Danish Plenipotentiary--Renunciation by his majesty the king of Denmark of

the use of the Norwegian Lion in the arms; in this respect it is stipulated as follows:-" The Danish monarchy in Europe ceases to use the emblem before the 1st of January next year, the agents and officers within a year, and the Danish colonies within two years."

The counter declaration of the

Norwegian Plenipotentiaries accedes to the above periods.

Propositions of the Minister of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, President of the Germanic Diet, to the Diet sitting at Frankfort.

The Minister of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, presiding at the Diet, has received orders from his Court to make the following communications to this Assembly:

His Majesty is persuaded that all the members of the Confederation participate with him in the wish that the Diet, before adjourning, should direct its particular attention to the spirit of inquietude and fermentation, the symptoms of which have for some years been daily more distinctly manifested in Germany; and which has finally shown itself in openly seditious writings, in criminal plots, embracing more than one part of Germany, in individual crimes and atrocious acts of violence.

His Majesty is desirous that this assembly should seriously examine the causes of these disorders, and the suitable means for henceforth securing public order, respect for the laws, confidence in governments, calm and general

general contentment, and the tranquil possession of all the benefits which the German princes, under the protection of a peace solidly guaranteed to Europe, have conferred on, or are preparing for the enjoyment of, their people.

The sources of the evil which the governments of Germany are loudly called upon to terminate exist, it is true, partly in temporary embarrassments and derangements, produced by circumstances on which no government can directly or momentarily operate; but they are also connected with defects, vices, or positive abuses, which it is doubtless possible to remedy by wellconcerted and maturely combined

measures.

Among the objects which in this last respect merit the particular attention of the Diet, the following may be regarded as the most urgent :

1. The uncertainty which prevails as to the sense of article 13 of the act of confederation.

2. The want of an accurate definition of the rights and powers of the Federal Diet, and of the means necessary for establishing them.

3. The defects of public education in the schools and universities.

4. The abuse of the press, and particularly the excesses which appear in the journals, periodical papers and ephemeral publications.

In the hope that the Diet will immediately occupy itself with these important objects, the minister of his imperial Majesty has been ordered to present several

plans of decrees to this assembly, as well as measures relative to the points indicated above, as for the establishment of a central commission, the object of which will be found explained in the sequel of the present proposition.

Edict of Censorship for the Kingdom of Hanover.

"George, Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, &c. King of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, &c. We have, in consequence of the resolution adopted with our consent by the German diet in the sitting of the 20th of September, with reference to the liberty of the press, agreed to the following edict of censorship, published on the 31st of May 1731." Then follows the edict of 1731, under the reign of George II, which confirms one passed in 1705, under the reign of George, Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I of England. By the former, no work is allowed to be published in the Hanoverian dominions, or sold by Hanoverian booksellers, which has not previously undergone the revision of a censor appointed by government. The publisher's name and the editor's, if a periodical work, must likewise be mentioned.

"This decree," says the edict, "is hereby renewed and declared binding for the whole of our royal German territories;

"And besides, farther to order and decree, that no writing shall be either printed, or (if printed out of the country) circulated in our kingdom of Hanover, which

does

does not bear on it the name of the publisher, and in so far as it belongs to the class of newspapers and periodical publications, also the name of the editors. Printed works, in which this regulation is not observed, shall be seized as soon as discovered, and the circulators punished by fine or imprisonment, according to the circumstances of the case.

"It is commanded, that all the authorities of the kingdom of Hanover, whom it may concern, shall pay due regard to this ordinance; and in order that it may be generally known, it shall be inserted in the first division of the collection of the laws.

"By the special command of his royal highness the Prince Regent.

"DECKEN, Bremer,
"ARNSWALDT.

"Hanover, 14th October."

of the different communions and sects tolerated in the state, to suppress whatever attacks morals and manners; to resist the fanatical mania of mixing the truths of religion and politics, and to prevent the confusion of ideas resulting therefrom; finally, to avert whatever might tend to compromise the safety and the dignity either of the Prussian monarchy, or of the other states of the Germanic confederation.

In the latter class are included all theories which tend to shake the monarchic and other constitutions existing within these states; injuries directed against governments having amicable relations with the Prussian state and the persons administering those governments; every thing which might excite discontent in Prussia or in the other states of the confederation, and resistance to the existing laws; all attempts having

18th, 1819.

1. All the books and writings destined to be published in our states shall be subject to the approbation of a censorship, regulated by the subjoined articles, and can neither be printed nor sold without permission given in writing.

2. The censorship will not prevent the sincere and discreet investigation of truth. It will impose no restraint on writers, and will not shackle the bookselling trade. Its object is to prevent whatever is contrary to the principles of religion in general, without making any distinction between the opinions and doctrines

without the country, illegal parties or associations, or finally to present under a favourable point of view the parties who, in a state, labour to overthrow its constitution.

3. The superintendence of the censorship of all the writings which appear in our states, whatever may be their contents, is exclusively intrusted, both in Berlin and the provinces, to the first presidents, who shall propose for each department, for the greatest possible expedition, a sufficient number of able and well-informed censors worthy of confidence.

This proposition shall be made through the medium of the supreme college of censorship, established